Greeks. Here we may
presume were laid the offerings with which the credulous and the servile
propitiated the new god,--many a gift, not improbably, being intercepted
on its way to the deity of the temple. [PLATE CXLV., Fig. 2.]

Another temple built by this monarch was one dedicated to Beltis at
Nineveh. It was perhaps for the ornamentation of this edifice that he
cut "great trees" in Amanus and elsewhere during his Syrian expedition,
and had them conveyed across Mesopotamia to Assyria. It is expressly
stated that these beams were carried, not to Calah, where
Asshur-izir-pal usually resided, but to Nineveh.

A remarkable work, probably erected by this monarch, and set up as a
memorial of his reign at the same city, is an obelisk in white stone,
now in the British Museum. On this monument, which was covered on all
its four sides with sculptures and inscriptions, now nearly obliterated,
Asshur-izir-pal commemorated his wars and hunting exploits in various
countries. The obelisk is a monolith, about twelve or thirteen feet
high, and two feet broad at the base. It tapers slightly, and, like the
Black Obelisk erected by this monarch's son, is crowned at the summit by
three steps or gradines. This thoroughly Assyrian ornamentation seems to
show that the idea of the obelisk was not derived from Egypt, where the
pyramidical apex was universally used, being regarded as essential to
this class of ornaments. If we must seek a foreign origin for the
invention, we may perhaps find it in the pillars [Greek ---- ----] which
the Phoenicians employed, as ornaments or memorials, from a remote
antiquity, objects possibly seen by the monarch who took tribute from
Tyre, Sidon, Aradus, Byblus, and most of the maritime Syrian cities.

Another most important work of this great monarch was the tunnel and
canal already described at length, by which at a vast expenditure of
money and labor he brought the water of the Greater Zab to Calah.
Asshur-izir-pal mentions this great work as his in his annals; and he
was likewise commemorated as its author in the tablet set up in the
tunnel by Sennacherib, when, two centuries later, he repaired it and
brought it once more into use.

It is evident that Asshur-izir-pal, though he adorned and beautified
both the old capital, Asshur, and the now rising city of Nineveh,
regarded the town of Calah with more favor than any other, making it the
ordinary residence of his court, and bestowing on it his chief care